Actuator that adjusts to side loads automatically by pivoting internally

Abstract

The actuator includes a housing and a gear nut within the housing. A leadscrew on which the gear nut is threaded traverses the housing. As the leadscrew moves axially, the gear nut rotates. The actuator allows a manually controlled ball in a groove to project into castellations on the outside of the gear nut to prevent the nut from rotating. This locks the leadscrew. Disengaging the ball from the gear nut releases the gear nut and leadscrew. To prevent misalignment between the gear nut and leadscrew, the gear nut's outer walls and the housing's inner walls are spherical against each other. A bearing may be in between. This permits the gear nut's axis of rotation to pivot in any direction along with any pivoting of the leadscrew while the gear nut still can rotate about the leadscrew. Therefore, if the leadscrew is not aligned with the housing, the leadscrew will pivot the gear nut so that the gear nut remains aligned with the leadscrew and movement of the leadscrew still occurs.